Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest '86

Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

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Users say

Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

This curious, blast-from-the-past concert film was shot in Budapest in 1986 by Hungarian filmmakers when Queen ventured behind the Iron Curtain to play the city’s Népstadion. Expect nothing fancy: bar some time-lapse footage of the stadium filling up, we leap straight into the gig, which is punctuated only by kitschy sections dedicated to each band member’s Budapest experience. So we have Brian May in a hot-air balloon, Roger Taylor in a go-kart, John Deacon having his picture taken and Freddie Mercury shopping for antiques. But if you like the songs, you’ll love the footage: Mercury sings a Hungarian folk ditty; May lounges about in a pastel shirt; Deacon sports some testicle-hugging shorts; and Taylor imps about on drums. The film is preceded by a short doc on the band’s 1986 Magic Tour. A cut-and-paste job of old footage, it has a great Spinal Tap moment when Taylor, anticipating their first Eastern Bloc gig, expresses his hope that they’ll sell enough tickets: ‘Whatever they do over there. Do they sell tickets?’